Where loyalties lie
by vrangr
Summary: These are the musings and realizations of a young Sergeant Major caught in the middle of war. Manga-based. Rated for violence.


**Disclaimer:** Fullmetal Alchemist belongs entirely to the one and only Hiromu Arakawa! :3 Also, some of Fuery's lines have been copied off the anime sub.

**A/N: **After writing four Royai oneshots, this unusual but appealing plot bunny approached me about two weeks ago. As I've told my (very wonderful, lovable, amazing) beta, _The Knife_, I felt that this had to be written. You'll see why :) I genuinely hope you'll appreciate it for what it is, (odd FFnet formatting and all)!

* * *

This.

Can't.

Be happening.

Sergeant Major Kain Fuery felt the ground shake beneath his feet as one missile after another, courtesy of the Cretan army, fell close to the Amestrian base.

The south is at war.

_He did this on purpose._ Fuery thought spitefully, like a child who felt as if his father had turned traitor. _He tore us apart. He's trying to kill us one by one!_

Amestris. This country he had been so willing to protect. This motherland he endured and devoted four years of military science and character 'make-or-break' to, had turned a cold cheek to him because of a single, but extremely powerful, entity: Führer King Bradley.

Did the so-called 'Mustang unit' foresee this?

No.

For once in all their working experience together, they had failed to foresee the only thing that could pose a very real _threat_ and drive them to madness—physical distance. Realized separation.

And for Fuery, the youngest member of the Flame Alchemist's hand-picked unit, the reality of war.

The closeness of death.

Whistle.

BOOM.

Fuery yelled as the force of a missile that had found its target threw him forward and hard into the dry desert earth.

"R-Run, Thomas! No time to rest!" Fuery scrambled up to his feet and grabbed his rifle. He spun around. "Thomas-!"

His breath hitched in his throat.

His only comrade. The only man destiny offered in place of a _family_ of soldiers that was taken away from him only days ago, lay in a grotesque position, face-up, and very lifeless.

_No…_

Fuery's heart wrenched.

To mourn this loss.

To grieve.

Should he…

NO.

"DAMN IT!" Fuery screamed and tore his eyes away from the fallen soldier as he continued to run down the trenches.

Missile after missile.

_Do not simply accept death._

"I _will_ survive!" Fuery screamed, hot and very angry tears forming at the corners of his eyes. _Thomas…_

_Never lose the will to fight._

"GOD DAMMIT—I _WILL_ SURVIVE!"

_I won't take any objections. Come with me to Central._

"YES, SIR!" Fuery heard—and felt—the ground shake dangerously behind him as another missile fell near the trenches.

Amestris needed its soldiers, its defenders, now more than ever.

_The colonel._ Fuery gripped his rifle tighter, onyx eyes re-focusing despite images of his comrades flashing through his mind's eye.

He will not go mad.

He will not surrender to this cold cheek.

Physical distance.

Realized separation.

_Spiritual connection._

_The colonel needs me._ Fuery thought. _The colonel needs his team._

Missile.

_Amestris needs her new führer._

Fuery growled. "We're coming, Colonel Mustang, sir!" he yelled over the sound of missiles and explosions and gunshots.

_Second Lieutenant Jean Havoc saluted with all the dignity he had left as he sat in a wheel chair._

_Second Lieutenant Heymans Breda smirked and raised a fist in triumph._

_Second Lieutenant Vato Falman nodded firmly._

_First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye smiled gently._

_Colonel Roy Mustang motioned him to run faster._

And these images were more than enough to keep him alive. He _will_ see them again. _Soon._ And together, as a unit, a team, a family, they will right the country and make her whole again.

_Brigadier General Hughes touched two fingers to the corner of his glasses, a familiar determined smile etched on his features._

Justice.

For Amestris.

And her people.

Just as he had promised himself and his superior every day to this moment that death chased him down that bloody trench.

_I _will _survive._

* * *

**A/N:** Please review! I'd thoroughly appreciate the feedback =^^=


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